British PM Boris Johnson facing the wrath over the handling of the Coronavirus crisis

The coronavirus outbreak has created havoc in recent times claiming the lives of more than 170,000 people globally

The prime minister Boris Johnson faced a call for inquiry inside his government's handling of the coronavirus or COVID-19 crisis after he failed to explain the partial death data, limited testing and also lack of equipment for hospitals, on Wednesday.

The deadly new coronavirus outbreak has left the government all around the world grappling with the stressed populations, a stalled global economy and also the overburdened health services.

Johnson facing wrath for his handling of Coronavirus

Boris Johnson
Twitter / Boris Johnson

Johnson initially refrained from approving the stringent controls that other European leaders imposed but he later closed down the country when projections showed a quarter of a million people could die in the United Kingdom. Since the lockdown, though, the government has given conflicting explanations of why it failed to join a European Union ventilator scheme and admitted there have been problems getting health workers enough protective equipment.

"Once we are through this crisis, there will, of course, need to be an independent inquiry to officially review the government's response to the pandemic," Ed Davey, acting leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, said in a statement. "The inquiry must have the strongest possible powers given the shocking failures on protective equipment for staff and the slow response of the government - to get to the truth and to give Boris Johnson the opportunity to answer the increasingly serious questions."

Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has also said the government was slow to respond and that at some point the United Kingdom will have to look back at the crisis. Johnson battled grave COVID-19 complications in intensive care earlier this month. He has been recuperating but making some calls and holding some meetings.

DEATHS, TESTS, VENTILATORS

The true extent of Britain's COVID-19 death toll was more than 40% higher than the government's daily figures indicated as of April 10, according to official data that put the country on track to become among the worst-hit in Europe. The latest hospital death data show 17,337 people had died after testing positive across the United Kingdom.

The Financial Times said an analysis of the latest data from the statistics office showed the outbreak had caused as many as 41,000 deaths in the United Kingdom. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told reporters that the 40 percent gap between the daily data and the more comprehensive ONS data was "not an accurate representation of those figures".

There was also confusion over ventilators. The top official in Britain's foreign ministry said on Tuesday he had been mistaken when he told a committee of lawmakers the government had made a political decision not to participate in a European scheme to buy ventilators to fight the coronavirus.

On testing too, Britain is far behind some European peers such as Germany. Hancock has faced questions about a pledge to get to 100,000 tests per day done by the end of this month. So far just over 18,200 tests are being done per day. The Daily Mirror said in an editorial: "(Johnson's) inept government is plunging incompetence to dangerous depths."

"Those responsible must be held to account if people are dying needlessly," the left-wing newspaper said.

(With agency inputs)

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